Thanksgiving 2011–Charlotte’s First Thanksgiving

What a full month November has been! Amidst all the hustle and bustle, it was so nice to spend a day with family. This year was the Peine Thanksgiving year so we headed down to Clermont for the day.

Charlotte was up and ready for her first Thanksgiving.

Tim and MIchelle hosted and Janice cooked the turkey. The sides were divided up among us so we just had to bring green bean casserole, Publix pumpkin pie, hot spiced cider, and cranberry bread.

We read Cranberry Thanksgiving this week as a part of school and at the end of the book there was the recipe for cranberry bread so Rosemary, Benjamin, and I made a couple of loaves. Despite how tart the cranberries themselves were, the bread turned out very good.

Rosemary loves to play dress up with her cousins.

It was gorgeous in Clermont that day so the kids…and dads too…enjoyed some time outside before it was time to eat.

Olivia set the table.

Lots of crock pots going

Both Rosemary and Ben enjoyed horse-y rides from Matthew.

Matthew snapped a few shots of everyone

I think my kids ate all of the olives and I’m pretty sure Ben at all but a few of the tomatoes.

Hanging out before the meal starts

These rolls are SO good. I look forward to them every Peine Thanksgiving. Those and the peanut butter pie are my favorite parts of the meal.

Ben looked through the snake book…after Matthew brought a snake INTO the house! It was little, but it was still a snake so I’m pretty sure my blood pressure rose a bit.

Charlotte’s first Thanksgiving meal consisted of potato rolls and some green bean casserole.

In true Peine form, when a discussion came up regarding whether midnight was 12:00am and noon was 12:00pm, Tim and Matthew pulled out reference books from the bookshelves behind them. And we learned that Jonathan was right, midnight and noon are neither am nor pm. (Check out this article on the Confusion at noon and midnight if you like).

After lunch, Tim, Jonathan, Zach, Matthew, and Olivia headed out in the canoe. While they were out the other kids played outside so Michelle and I played some Scrabble. Once everyone was back we played some Bananagrams.

Little Charlotte was so proud of herself for climbing into the lego basket.

At the end of the evening, the kids enjoyed watching Nim’s Island.

To wrap up the day, Joshua and Rosemary had some dinner. For Rosemary that consisted of only mashed potatoes and gravy.

We drove home that night and got the kids tucked in bed. What a full, wonderful day!

Two Little Indians (well, one isn’t quite so little)

Last week, Ben celebrated his Thanksgiving Feast with his friends at his preschool. Richard and Janice were in town to help me get Ben to speech and watch Charlotte while Rosemary and I were at our homeschool co-op. I missed the feast, but from what Ben said, it sounded like it was fun. And he sure made a cute little Indian!

He was so proud of his vest, headband, and necklace.

Sweet boy.

And while Ben was dressed up as an Indian, I was too…just one from a different continent.

It was my turn to do the co-op lesson and I taught on India. I have really amazing friends and they let me borrow some clothes, tools, and other items from India that they had to use as a part of the lesson. I even made the kids eat curried chicken and rice with their hands. I think the biggest hit was the Darjeeling tea and sugar cubes. The kids literally ate the sugar cubes directly off the plate. I tried one and it was so gross! But it was so fun to put the lesson together and teach the class and I think the kids enjoyed it too.

Italian Dinner Night Through Rosemary’s Eyes

A few weeks ago we read Papa Piccolo as our Five in a Row book for the week. It was one that I wish we could have gotten into more since it’s set in Venice, but it was just a busy week (which is pretty much the norm for us these days). We did manage to have an Italian dinner night with bruschetta, homemade pizza, and tiramisu as part of our week though.

We had Pizza Margherita (which we’d learned about in co-op too) and a white pizza. I didn’t make the dough from scratch. That came from Publix.

While I was getting the food ready, Rosemary enjoyed taking some photos around the house. I thought it was really interesting to see our home through her eyes.

This is Sheep. Rosemary LOVES Sheep.

Our school clock.

I need to put a picture of Charlotte up there…

Rosemary’s handprint from when she was about a year and a half old. I love this. I should probably have Ben’s and Charlotte’s done too through Jilly-beans.com.

At dinner, I got the camera back for a bit.

Rosemary wanted to be the “Rock Star Queen” while she ate her pizza. I think she ate two pieces that night, which is unheard of for her.

Ben enjoying his pizza.

No pizza just yet for Charlotte.

Enjoying some tiramisu.

Ben enjoyed his too.

After dinner, Ben propped himself up on the couch with one of the catalogs that has flooded our mailbox in recent weeks.

He looks like such a big boy!

Charlotte at 10 Months

I am having a hard time believing that Charlotte is just two months away from being a year old. I’m just trying to enjoy the last few months of our littlest one as a baby. I know that too soon she’ll be toddling around.

This month, Charlotte has mastered crawling then sitting. She’s pretty coordinated. Neither of our other kids were crawling this well at her age so it’s interesting and new for us. She’s also super great at pulling up.

We’re adding a few table foods. Anytime we have something that we think she can handle, she gets some of our food too.

And she’s still a great sleeper.

Her temperament is just as sweet as ever. Such a darling.

Daisy Investiture

Rosemary officially became a Girl Scout on November 7, 2011. Grandma and Grandpa Peine were able to make it up to Gainesville for the ceremony.

Sporting her smock. Soon she’ll be fillin’ it up with patches she’s earned.

Each girl held a flower then added it to a vase as her name was called.

Charlotte enjoyed some time with Grandma.

Rosemary even had a line for the ceremony. It was, “Use resources wisely.”

She got a special Daisy certificate.

Our Girl Scout.

Now you know who to call when you need some cookies.

Explorations V

The next day, we headed to Lakeland and met up with Jonathan’s parents at Explorations V, a children’s museum in downtown Lakeland.

We spent a lot of time here too. The kids had so much fun exploring all the different areas.

This time, Charlotte hung out in the wrap.

Riding in the fire truck

One of the favorite parts of the visit, the trip to the grocery store. Both Rosemary and Ben enjoyed filling their carts then checking out.

Rosemary also got to forecast the weather here.

There was also a stage set up with dress up clothes that the kids enjoyed. We explored the basement and second floor too and thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

After Explorations V, we headed over to Giordanno’s for some pizza then spent the night with Janice and Richard. The next day we had lunch with Tim & Michelle’s family before heading back home. It was a quick time away, but we had a great time!